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My Officemate/Roommate

October 11, 2011 — normalboy

My new office is in the environmental science department (which is the department that actually funds my research, even though my affiliation is with statistics). One of my officemates is a new Ph.D. student in environmental science who has the same advisor as me (i.e., he’s part of my “research group,” in a broad sense). He’s originally from (a Scandinavian country), and he just arrived less than three weeks ago, so he hasn’t yet found a permanent place to live for the year. He was sleeping on the floor of a friend on campus, so I offered my place as an alternative (with my roommate’s permission, of course). I don’t have an extra bed, but I have lots of space and a couch (which is technically in the living room aka my roommate’s room). He took me up on my offer late last week, and he’s been staying with me for the last four nights (tonight will make five). He sleeps in my room, using the couch cushions as a bed on the floor.

Quick side story. My old roommate from last year graduated and moved out at the end of the summer, so a new student fresh from undergrad took his place (he’s so young!). He’s a lot cleaner than my old roommate, so I never have to worry about a powerful stench coming from my kitchen anymore. He actually does his dishes right after using them, which is the same way I was taught to do dishes. We get along pretty well too. We’ve gone grocery shopping together twice in the last three weeks, and I sometimes chat with him after I get home late from my office. It’s been good living with my new roommate.

Anyway, back to my officemate, who I guess is currently my officemate/roommate. It’s been a lot of fun having my officemate stay with me. I get a lot of opportunities to get to know him. He a tall, blond, athletic straight guy. He’s exactly my type of guy, except for the straight part. More importantly, he’s a really nice guy. His two best friends are gay, and he even let one of them stay with him rent-free for a year. He also plays the saxophone and used to be on his college rowing team. I could probably gush about him more, but I trying really hard not to crush on him. It doesn’t help that he sleeps in his underwear…

Since my officemate is so new, the department hasn’t made him an office key yet, so he relies on me (or our other officemates) to open the door for him. I like that he relies on me for both opening the office door and for a place to stay. It somehow makes me feel valued or important on some small level. The shallow/self-deprecating side of me thinks I like to be needed by good looking people because it somehow makes me feel better about myself.

Regardless, I like having a friend around. I’ve been in my office so much lately that I don’t see my other friends very much. I spend most of my time with my advisor (I’m turning into his right-hand man), so it’s great that there’s someone else around I can talk to.